Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Spencer Pratt is attempting to win in a liberal city run by a Democratic Party establishment. The town last elected a GOP candidate to its top job nearly three decades ago.

For this reason, Pratt, a registered Republican, has sought to cast himself as a nonpartisan figure. “All my supporters in Los Angeles are Democrats,” he told CBS. Everyone I know, my family, are all Democrats.” To NBC he explained, “When you vote for Spencer Pratt on your ballot today or tonight, it’ll say Spencer Pratt, community advocate because that’s how I identify.” He added, “I do not represent a party. I don’t have a campaign manager. I don’t have campaign consultants. There’s no political party backing me.”

Still, behind the scenes, Republicans are steering his campaign. Its headquarters, according to city disclosure filings, is a boutique tax service agency run by the wife of former GOP congressman Brian Bilbray in Imperial Beach, a small town in San Diego County just north of the U.S. border. Their daughter, a former Republican Party delegate, is Pratt’s treasurer, with a listed email identifying an entity called “BB Campaigns” which has no discernible public footprint.